Hashirama Senju
was the . He hails from the Senju clan and together with the Uchiha clan established Konohagakure. Background Hashirama was originally the leader of the Senju clan. Under his leadership the Senju clan came to be regarded as one of the two most powerful clans in the world, rivaling the renowned battle-oriented Uchiha clan. Because of this, when someone hired the Senju clan, the opposing side would hire the Uchiha clan and vice-versa, causing frequent battles between the two. Eventually growing tired of the constant fighting, Hashirama and his clan approached the Uchiha and offered a truce with them. Allied with Madara and his clan, the two groups founded Konohagakure. When deciding who should become the leader of Konoha, the villagers selected Hashirama over Madara for the title of First Hokage. Fearing that Hashirama would oppress the Uchiha, Madara left the village, and challenged Hashirama's rule. After an intense battle that included the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, Hashirama defeated Madara; and Hashirama's wife Mito became the Nine-Tails' first jinchūriki by sealing it within herself.Naruto chapter 500, page 06 In the aftermath of their battle, Madara was believed to have been killed, and the Valley of the End was created. Madara would later state that he fought that battle in order to obtain Hashirama's abilities. To commemorate the battle, two statues, of Madara and Hashirama, were carved into the earth surrounding the valley. During his time as Hokage, Hashirama created a scroll filled with kinjutsu, which he sealed away in order to keep the jutsu within a secret. He also defeated Kakuzu, who had been sent to assassinate him by Takigakure. At some point, Hashirama gained control of several tailed beasts. He spread these beasts to other, newly-formed villages in an attempt to maintain peace and equalize the powers between the nations, but it did not stop the outbreak of the First Shinobi World War. Thinking about the future of Konoha, he and his younger brother, Tobirama Senju, trained the young Hiruzen Sarutobi. Hashirama would eventually die during the war, but not before passing on the title of Hokage to Tobirama. Appearance Hashirama is shown with dark tan skin, brown eyes, and long, black hair. In most cases, he is wearing a similar style to his brother and Madara Uchiha; dark red, metal plating armor of that era similar to what samurai wear, ninja sandals, as well as some type of headband on his forehead, whether that is Konoha's forehead protector, or simply a red headband. He has however been seen in both on separate occasions. On each side of the collars of the armor is the Senju clan symbol. While in the village Hashirama was either in the official Hokage garb or a light brown kimono shirt with mesh armor underneath it held closed with a sash and navy blue pants. Personality Hashirama was shown to be a very calm and collected person, as well as kind and caring, with a deep sense of loyalty, great charisma and negotiation skill. He saw the people of Konoha as a part of his own family, and his legacy took a firm root in the village. He was also shown to be a very wise and insightful man, as he passed on great teachings to Hiruzen. It was he who first believed that all Leaf ninja should show a true loyalty to each other, and that a Kage must be willing to put his life on the line for his village to set an example for all others. This belief of his is known as the Will of Fire. Abilities Hashirama Senju was considered by both Madara Uchiha and several Konoha Jōnin as the most powerful ninja of his time. He was greatly respected by every shinobi during his life, such that Madara claimed Hashirama was the one person whom he respected the most as well as detested. He knew how to perform a great number of jutsu, and was otherwise knowledgeable of those he could not, as indicated by creating the Scroll of Seals and his familiarity with Summoning: Impure World Resurrection. In the manga he uses a genjutsu against Hiruzen that covers the area in darkness. During his battle with Madara, Hashirama is seen with a variety of weapons that he summoned from a large scroll. His prowess and abilities were so great that he was able to not only fight on equal footing with Madara despite the power of his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and having the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox at his side, but also survive the battle and gain victory in the end. The injuries which he caused to Madara were so great that even decades later they still affect him tremendously. Wood Release He was most famous for his Wood Release jutsu, a kekkei genkai to mix earth and water-natured chakra to create this new element. By converting chakra into the source of life, he was able to create trees, causing them to grow to great sizes and manipulate them to diverse shapes and battle uses at will. It was said that this ability was used to create the very landscape and foundation that Konoha is built on. This ability was apparently unique for him, since none of his relatives were shown using the ability. Even Yamato, the only person to have proved compatible with Hashirama's genes, found his use of Wood Release to be much weaker in raw power. Yamato has also shown great skill in standard water and earth techniques, so it is presumed Hashirama could do water and earth techniques as well. The ability Orochimaru most highly praised him for was his unique ability to control tailed beasts. Of all his considerable talents, it was this ability in particular that made Hashirama unparalleled in the shinobi world, so much so that he is regarded as one of the few people capable of completely controlling a tailed beast.Naruto chapter 458, page 03 This ability was greatly amplified by his crystal necklace, which Yamato suggested was a requirement to control even Naruto's partial lapses into tailed forms. Part I Invasion of Konoha Arc Both he and Tobirama were revived from the dead by Orochimaru using Impure World Resurrection to fight Hiruzen during the invasion. While fully aware of what was going on, and saddened that he would have to fight his former student, Hashirama and his brother were robbed of their free will as a result of a seal employed by Orochimaru into the backs of their heads. Hiruzen quickly resolved to kill his masters and used a very powerful fire technique that was easily countered by one of Tobirama's walls of water that was then turned into an attack that was stopped by Hiruzen's own earth wall. During the battle, he demonstrated great teamwork and combination attacks with his brother. He also demonstrated his great Wood Release abilities, forcing Hiruzen to summon Enma for assistance, and at the same time showed great taijutsu skills. His soul along with his brother's were eventually sealed by Hiruzen when he combined the Dead Demon Consuming Seal and the Shadow Clone Technique to strike both of them at the same time. Before his soul was completely removed, he and his brother apologized to their former student for the trouble they had caused.Naruto chapter 123, pages 11-12 Legacy Sometime after Hashirama's death, Orochimaru experimented with Hashirama's DNA. Desiring Hashirama's unique abilities, Orochimaru exhumed the Hokage's body and infused sixty child test subjects with his DNA, hoping that one would prove able to use Wood Release. Only Yamato survived the process. Danzō Shimura's right arm has also been infused with Hashirama's DNA through a similar experiment with Orochimaru, in the hopes of controlling the powers of the Nine-Tails, as well as to increase his physical energy to maintain the ten Sharingan embedded on his right arm. Also, Madara Uchiha had taken a piece of Hashirama's flesh in their final battle and was somehow able to combine Hashirama's power with his own. Madara also had the flesh 'planted' at one of his hideouts. From that flesh grew a massive, mindless flowering tree that partially takes the appearance of Hashirama, supports the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, and, having gradually been fed amounts of demonic chakra from the Tailed beasts that had already been captured thus-far, among its roots, seems to have helped produce a legion of 100,000 White Zetsu's for Madara's army against the Allied Shinobi Forces' numbers of about 80,000.Naruto chapter 512, pages 10-14 Video Games Trivia * His face on the Hokage Monument has a crack across the bridge of the nose similar to Iruka Umino's scar. * The necklace, worn by Tsunade and later worn by Naruto, originally belonged to Hashirama. * In the English dub version of the anime, his Wood Release was called "Secret Earth Jutsu" rather than "Wood Style". This was corrected in Shippūden with Yamato. * Hashirama, along with Tobirama, Minato, and the Konoha symbol, had his face appear in the ending omake of Shippūden episode 129 within the fireworks. * According to the third Naruto databook: ** His hobbies were bonsai and sculpture. ** His favorite opponent was Madara Uchiha. ** His favorite food was mushroom mixed soup. ** His favorite quote was . Quotes * "The fellow countrymen of the leaf make up each part of my body ... those of the village believe in me, and I believe in them. That's what it means to be Hokage!" * "Whenever you live, there will always be war." * "Those who stray from the path of justice have no courage, but under the wing of a strong leader, cowardice cannot survive." References